Merry Christmas from the Joslin Family

We hope all you faithful blog readers have a wonderful Christmas season this year and that the New Year will bring lots of fun and blessings to each of you!  Though this year had some hard challenges for us, we have had many wonderful moments together that have found us closer to one another and to the Savior.  We are excited for the upcoming year and the many new experiences we will get to have: real employment, a growing family, and our first move together (though we are not sure if it will be in the same city or across the country...).

We wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a blessed New Year!

From, Ben, Joanna, and Baby Joslin

So, we've talked about our Sing-a-ma-Jigs as if they are our children.  And, in a moment of boredom and desperation we decided to see what true Sing-A-Ma-Jig babies of ours would look like.  Can you tell which one gets its looks from each one of us?

Yeah it's a little creepy so we aren't too worried about having real Sing-a-ma-jig Children.  But, it got us thinking.  What would a Ben-Joanna look like?

Not the ugliest face, but I don't think we'd be wining any beauty contests anytime soon.  And, then we wanted to see what our future children would look like.

This one is a keeper!  Look how cute our little babies will be.  This is a good sneak peak so we'll know what to expect when he or she comes this May and we'll be able to pick our baby out from the crowded nursery in the hospital.

Picture dump

Here are pictures from the last little while that we just haven't gotten to put up.

Sigh

It is a harsh reality that everywhere doesn't get to enjoy summer-like weather all year long.  And, that those same places that are have mostly summer-like weather don't get to enjoy the beauty of snow falling gently to the ground. 

We both had mixed emotions about returning to Minnesota after spending the past weekend in Arizona.

It was lots of fun to be with Ben's family this weekend as his youngest brother got married.  That means we are both up to date on meeting all of the Joslins (I finally met my last brother-in-law and his now wife, and we both got to see the new babies).  We also got to visit with Ben's "grandma" and my last mission companion.

Even as great as it was in Arizona, it was nice to come back to our own home and not live out of our suitcases and not worry about what we didn't remember to pack in the suitcases.  And, our daily routines are back to normal (even if it is work and school).  But, we came home to one car covered in snow and a little bit of a slippery drive home from the airport.

I guess we'll never be able to find one place that suits us all.  Ben would definitely miss the snow if we moved to Arizona.

Anyway, we are looking forward to Thanksgiving this week.  We have lots we are thankful for, like the following:

Law school being over soon
No more kidney stone issues
Being able to sit next to each other on the airplane
Our Sing-a-ma-jig babies :)
Getting a co-teacher in primary
Going back to Arizona after the snow starts falling
Only having to drive about 10 miles for Thanksgiving
Watching JAG online
Skype stalking

And that just barely scratches the surface.  One of my coworkes wishes all the customers a happy turkey day, and everytime he says it it makes me cringe a little.  We aren't celebrating a bird.  It's a day that has been specifically set aside to reflect on all the things we have received, will yet receive, and give thanks for them.  It makes me a little sad to think he only thinks about the meal.

Sigh.  So it goes.

I finally lived through one of my fears Monday night, and I've been waiting for it to happen since I was 16.

Unfortunately, I didn't pay this price for gas.

I had stopped on the way home to get gas at the gas station I usually stop at at the corner of the street.  Thinking nothing of it, I get out of the car with my debit card and keys (because I have locked them inside the car at this same gas station), and started going through the regular motions: slide debit card, take the gas cap off, etc.  I started pumping the gas, and read the adds there at the pump.  It got me thinking about a possible Christmas present for Ben, and while I was off in my thoughts, I heard a splurt, splurt, and then the sound of something spilling onto the ground.  It was the GASOLINE pouring out of my gas tank!  I just kind of stared at it for a minute not sure what to do and not wanting the get gas all over my hand, and then I jumped into action and stopped the gas from pumping and took the pump out of my car.

By the time I stopped the pump, over a gallon of gas had poured all over my car and the ground.  Luckily, since I have been paranoid about this for ever, I had been standing on that little raised part right around the pump itself.  If I hadn't been, mt pants would also be covered in gas.  Trying to be a good person, I went inside to let the attendant know.  All he said was, "Oh. Sorry."  I just looked at him for a minute, and then decided it wasn't worth my time to stand there waiting for him to offer me something.  I went back to my car afraid that I'm going to make a spark and explode and very carefully called Ben to make sure I wouldn't explode.  Luckily, I made it home in one piece, but my car smelled like gasoline for the next day.

Being crafty

It's one of my favorite things to do, so here is an update on some of my latest craftings.

 

A baby blanket made from some fabric my Grandma Scoresby had to make a blanket.

A skirt.  It has an exposed elastic waist and was pretty easy to make.  I haven't worn it yet because I didn't get it finished until after Labor Day, so it might just get saved until next summer.  I made it to replace my white skirt that Janet loved and always wanted to borrow.

 

This little dinosaur was kind of a pain to make, but it turned out pretty cute.  There were lots of little parts and tight corners and I didn't care much for the pattern, but I hope it's getting lots of love from the nephew who got it for his birthday (and I hope the stuffing hasn't fallen out!)

While my sewing machine was getting repaired, I had to move on to non-sewing crafts.  I wanted to do some nativity crafts since my cricut cartridge can cut them.  Anyway, this is what I came up with.

The other week while I was working on a Halloween project, I started humming a favorite Halloween song. This got me thinking back to how much fun we would have in our elementary music class learning new songs.  In our school, we would hold assemblies for Thanksgiving, Christmas, parent nights, welcome back to school nights.  In first grade we performed The Little Red Hen play; in second grade it was The Elephant's Child.  And, each year we would have our Christmas Program were each grade would perform the three or four songs they had learned. As I was happily thinking about my fun elementary days and all the fun our teachers did, I started making a mental list of songs I am going to teach my children for sure.
1. Have You Seen the Ghost of John
2. Must Be Santa
3. All the songs from The Little Red Hen, especially Who will Help Me?
4. All the songs from The Elephant's Child
5. Zero the Hero
6. Froggy Went A'Courting (My first grade class loved this song so much that we made Mrs. Denzer let us do it as a play in music class.  We practiced for hours so it was perfect!)
7. Fly Eagle, Fly (or whatever it was called. Mrs. Eaton made us practice it in choir over and over and over)
8. Jimmy Crack Corn
9. Up on the Rooftop
10. Jump Jim Crow (not a song we learned in school, but one they'll learn anyway even if it is politically incorrect.  I didn't know what it meant for a long time)

Update

My lip is doing much better!  The swelling has gone down considerably, and the scar tissue is almost all gone.  I hope this makes you all feel better especially since you don't have to look at my nasty lip anymore.

Mucocele

def. lump in lip caused by blocked salivary gland that leaves an ugly mess when removed

sorry it's blurry, but taking a picture of your own lip is hard

Yep.  That's it alright.  I've had mine hanging out on my lip for a while now, but the doctor snipped it of this morning with three snips!  That was it.  And, now my lip can return to normal!

The Great Minnesota Get Together!!

My Peeps,

One of my favorite activities in Minnesota comes at the end of summer:
THE MINNESOTA STATE FAIR!!!

For Information:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CvIg55oZWH0

Joanna and I went TWICE this year and it made me (and my stomach) VERY HAPPY!!

Here are some pictures with captions:

This was our first feast of the day! Apple dumplings with ice cream! 

I was happy to see these robots, rockets, and legos! 

These are award winning cookies. Joanna kept saying: "I could make that!" 

These are award winning decorative cakes! I kept saying: "I could eat that!" 

Award winning Sweetcakes! :)  Oh ya, and there are some baked goods in the picture too. 

Smoked turkey leg!! DELICIOUS!! With the Midway behind me. 

Fried/breaded mushrooms and soft pretzel! Yum! 

The crowds at the fair! 

CHEESE CURDS!! 

Joanna next to a prize-winning cow - and her groupies. . . .  and someone creepy. . . 

Nice round steaks! 

This was the largest boar. His name is Husky Lee. He is 4 years old and weighs 1160 pounds (just slightly more than me).

Look at this cute Bunny! Oh ya, and there is a 1st Place junior doe Dutch Steel rabbit back there too. 

The big wavy slide!  We didn't go on it because I was still eating a turkey leg. 

All you can drink ice-cold milk! Yum! We were also eating a bucket of Sweet Martha's cookies too! 

We found this trading card for the butter princess! Don't the faces look the same-ish?
Maybe everything is better in butter?

These pumpkins were big, bold, and beautiful!! 

Only the best of Crop Arts exist at the State Fair. All of these  Lillian Colton originals are of famous people . . .
except for that guy in the hat and glasses making a funny face on the bottom. . . 

Yep, someone paid tribute to Girlie by making this crop art.
That cat sure got around! 

Beautiful flower presentations. This is supposed to represent fireworks! 

You can't get any more proud than to be an American who is eating a Pronto Pup!!

Our last meal of the evening: the caramel apple! Yum! 

Here we have Joanna, Preston, Emily, Lauren, Rene, and Margaret all enjoying the tractors!  

Lauren got to be a farmer for a day! Here she is driving her tractor. (She did NOT want to get off!)

Isn't it sad that no other picture in the world will ever be as awesome as this one?
(Just look how happy they all are!!) 

This is sweet-corn Joanna with a sweet-corn-hat trying to blend in to the sweet-corn field. 

Rene begins the morning by proudly displaying his corn hat, and feasting on this foot-long corn-dog! Yum! 

Yep, it exists! 

This is Lauren trying  to be brave enough to touch the horse.
When we were in the horse barn she got a little scared because a horse NAYED super loud right next to us!

Rene is now trying to help Lauren pet the horse, but she was too busy clinging onto her daddy.
Joanna just enjoys being in the pictures I take.  

A nice stroll through the cow-barn. . . 

Moo! Do you see the secret this big cow is hiding? 

Nice rooster. 

Look at that Sweet Honey!! Oh ya, and there is some bee products in the background too.
. . . and Rene and Preston. 

Yes, Mensa had a booth at the Fair! Joanna walked right up and solved a complex puzzle in 2 seconds.
Literally. 

Princess Kay of the Milky Way rode by in this parade right after I got done talking to some kids about their robot.

BOW TO YOUR KING!!

Spam Queen Joanna commands you to feed her pigs! Now! 

This is Rene with his two-favorite FIsh-Head-in-Laws. 

Various captions:
We left the State Fair with full stomachs and our tails held high!
What a catch!
They've got fish on the brains!
Somp'in fishy's goin' on!
Rene's schooling Preston.
FIN.

I hope you enjoyed the MN State Fair this year! I sure did! I can't wait until next year!

-BEN